


backrooms

by elimurphy



Series: liminal stuff [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Horror, liminal spaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28450098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elimurphy/pseuds/elimurphy
Summary: always do a backgound check on the company when you're applying for work
Series: liminal stuff [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2083875





	backrooms

“Bye, Suzy! Have a nice weekend, Suzy!” Suzy’s colleagues shouted as she crossed the office. She smiled and waved at them, wishing some a good evening and telling some not to stay at work until midnight yet again. Their little office family was everything she could wish for when she applied for this new position. It was an ambitious move and she was already nervous enough to be around new people. She never thought things could be so easy and so nice. Everyone seemed to like her right from the beginning. There were no conflicts, no gossip, no tension. Just smiles and never-ending homemade cookies and brownies in the kitchen. 

She ran down the stairs already thinking about what to cook for dinner at home. She was also new at living by herself and it still didn’t feel natural to make actual meals just for one person. But she tried her best to overcome this neglectful laziness. She wanted to learn to take care of herself, like her coworkers. They seemed to have it all figured out. All fit and healthy, hitting the gym on a regular basis, being mindful with everything they do, always so happy and so positive. Suzy didn’t feel like she belonged with this group, but this time instead of being upset about it, she decided to make changes and at least try to fit in. And everyone supported her decision.

She never thought there would come a day she would be sad to leave the office. She never liked her job before. 

She waved at the security guard at the entrance and walked out of the building. It was already dark outside. So dark, in fact, that her eyes took a second to get used to it. She blinked a couple of times, still standing just a step away from the door, and when her vision fully returned to her, she realised that the parking lot in front of her was completely empty. And it just wasn’t right.

There were at least a dozen people still in the office. And her car wasn’t where she parked it either. 

She tried to remember if she parked somewhere else when she got here this morning but her morning routine and commute were so automatic at this point she never paid attention to what she was doing. But at the same time, if there weren’t any changes to the way things usually are, there would be nothing to remember, would it?

“Um,” she said under her breath, confused. 

There should be someone who knows what’s going on. There should be someone she could ask to clear things out.

“Jeffrey!” she exclaimed internally. Of course the guard would know.

Already feeling like she was just a moment away from normality, she swiftly turned around.

The automatic door didn’t react, so she took a step back and a step forward again. This weird dance happened sometimes, there was nothing unusual about that. But the door remained closed, despite Suzy’s attempts.

“Maybe there’s a shutdown or something,” she thought, calmly.

Suzy remembered that there was a backdoor. Some of her coworkers sneaked out there for a smoke sometimes.

She turned on the flashlight on her phone and walked down the set of stairs. It was eerily dark and quiet, as if the whole neighborhood lost power and didn’t figure out yet to light the candles.

Suzy always thought of herself as a rational person. As well as that, she wasn’t that easily frightened. Maybe it just took her a minute to realise that something scary was happening.

She turned the corner and saw the first source of light except for her flashlight. There was an old yellow lamp just about the door. 

“That’s good,” she thought, “the power’s back on.”

She turned off her flashlight and took a couple more steps. She reached for the doorknob and gently turned it. The door didn’t budge no matter what she did. It was closed. And Suzy couldn’t remember any time it was closed before.

As she tried the knob one more time, getting slightly impatient, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Ma’am, what are you doing?” the deep voice said with concern.

Suzy turned around and saw who the voice belonged to. It was a tall, scruffy looking man in some sort of a uniform.

“How did you even get in here?” the man asked. He had low eyebrows and with such dim light his worried expression looked almost theatrical.

“I just want to ask Jeff if he knows where all the cars disappeared to,” Suzy said. “It’s so weird. First there’s no light, and now this door is shut even though it’s always open!” Suzy grabbed the doorknob and turned it from side to side once again.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I can’t understand you. Why are you trying to get inside? There’s nothing there!” the man said in that calm, patient voice people often use while talking to complete weirdos, just in case.

“I told you! I just want to know where my car is so I can go home!” Suzy said, shrugging at the fact this man needed clarification at all. And what does he mean there’s nothing inside? Her office is. And a couple of other offices she hasn’t a chance to memorize yet. But there was a ton of stuff inside in any case.

“What car? There’s not even any place to park here! And the whole territory is fenced with barbed wire and all that! How did you get in here?'' The man was getting impatient but tried his best not to show it. This woman could be crazy for what he knows.

“What are you talking about?! I work here!” It was Suzy’s turn to get frustrated. This whole situation felt like a sick joke.

“What are  _ you  _ talking about? Where here? This place has been abandoned for years!” the man said louder as if it would finally make her understand his words.

“It’s not abandoned! I work here! I literally just left the office! Are you crazy?” Suzy was getting more annoyed with each passing moment. Why was this man wasting her time anyway? And why was that stupid door closed the first time she needed it to be open?!

“Ma’am, are you sure you’re alright?” the man asked. His frustration and confusion turned into genuine worry. There must be something seriously wrong with this woman, he thought. Maybe she was just lost and needing help without even realising it.

“Of course I’m alright! I just have no idea what you’re talking about, and what you’re implying. I see your uniform so I have no reason not to believe you. I’m just very confused. Maybe you could just open this door and let me in and then we’ll talk?” Suzy suggested. She wasn’t completely honest. In fact, she didn’t really believe in anything that man just told her. Because what he was saying was utter bullshit, wasn’t it?

“I can’t let you inside, ma’am, I’m sorry. I think you still don’t understand the situation, so I’ll reiterate. This building is empty and has been empty for years after some really nasty things occurred here. There is also a barbed wire fence around the perimeter and two security posts. I’m one of the guards. No one is allowed here. And I still have no idea how you managed to sneak in.” He tried to say it as calmly and clearly as he could with long pauses and direct eye contact to have her pay attention.

Suzy just rolled her eyes.

“You know what,” she started fiercely, with annoyance in her voice, “I think you’re just trying to mess with me. I don’t know why but it just feels like it. And I don’t want to continue this conversation, so can you please just leave me alone?” Suzy was done. Nothing made sense anymore. Everything was a mess. She just wanted to find her car and go home. And no uniform-wearing jerks would stop her.

“Ugh, ma’am, I can’t leave you alone. You’re trespassing on the property I’m guarding. You can’t be here. So, if you don’t come with me I’ll have to call the police.” 

Hearing the word “police” Suzy flinched. She couldn’t afford getting into legal trouble after the incident she was involved in in her last place of work.

“Alright, I’ll come with you,” she said. “But with one condition – I want your full name and a number of your supervisor.”

It took the guard all of his willpower not to roll his eyes. He nodded, agreeing to the deal. At least she was finally willing to leave and stopped trying to convince him to let her in.

“Why is it so dark in here?” Suzy asked as they left a little illuminated corner near the backdoor. The guard pulled out his flashlight and pointed it forward at the beat-up road ahead. It was in a complete disrepair, as if no one touched it in years. Suzy wondered why she never paid attention to it before. After all it was a relatively new part of town. Have they completely given up on trying to build something that lasts?

“Because there’s no reason to try and repair the wiring around the building. It won’t be open anytime soon anyway.”

Suzy decided to play along and pretend that she wasn’t here just minutes ago working in a brand-new business centre with perfect infrastructure. 

“What happened here?” she asked.

“Isn’t it common knowledge?” the guard shook his head.

“Well, clearly it’s not for me,” Suzy was actually interested in what this man would try and sell her. Maybe he was just a dude who loved telling stories and couldn’t find the right outlet for it.

“Have you heard about the Solstice cult at least?” the guard asked. The further they went the more decrepit what little surroundings they could see was getting. 

“No, I haven’t,” she said, a bit unsurely. Solstice was the name of the company she was now working at. There was nothing cultish about it.

“So, there was a company by that name. They were selling vitamins or something. But they were also doing some batshit-crazy experiments. Weaponized plague or something. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. What I know for sure, is that one day they fucked up, badly, and now this entire part of the town from that soldier statue down the street to the park over there is off-limits to the public.”

Suzy didn’t say anything right away. That was way too much information to process. Experiments? Bio-weapons? They’re selling supplements, and though not-that-well-researched supplements, there couldn’t be anything intentionally harmful inside those pills and powders. There’s just no way. Suzy even was taking some herself. She even popped a couple of pills this very morning. And nothing bad happened, has it? Suzy had to stop herself on this thought. She couldn’t say that nothing bad was happening to her. She was being escorted by a strange man in a military-looking uniform. And he was saying that her company is basically a terrorist organization. Or that it was a terrorist organization. Because apparently, something happened years ago.

Suzy was losing track of her own thoughts. Things just didn’t add up.

“When are you saying it happened?” she asked, finally, her voice shaking even more than before.

“About four or five years ago,” the guard said, “In 2019, I think. It looked much more gruesome those first couple of years. It’s a miracle this city survived at all.”

“That bad? What exactly happened?” she kept coming up with questions. But she was sure no matter how many she'd ask nothing would get clearer. 

“Well, I don’t know how much of a horror fan you are, but zombie outbreaks are way less fun in real life,” the guard said with a slight, almost sad chuckle.

“Zombie outbreaks?” Suzy gasped. She then started laughing without realizing she was doing it. It didn’t seem funny for her, just too unexpected and simply too weird.

“Well, to put it in the simple terms, yes, zombies. Those pills messed up something in people’s brains and they got progressively more and more messed up themselves until it culminated in them walking outside all at once one day as if they were ordered to do so and attacking and destroying everything they saw.” The guard was telling Suzy all that in a specific kind of way as if he already had to say those exact words dozens of times. 

Suzy didn’t find any words to reply. She noticed a tall fence in the distance and just next to it a security post booth. She didn’t remember it being there before. But then again, nothing she has been seeing or hearing for the last couple of minutes made sense, so she wasn’t surprised to be confronted with more.

As they got closer to the post Suzy saw a person standing inside the booth in the dim light. They looked still, like a cardboard cutout. She squinted to try and make out their face but the parts didn’t fall into a cohesive picture. Eyes, nose, lips looked misshaped and out of place. And Suzy couldn’t stop looking.

They were almost by the door already. The guard asked Suzy to wait and knocked on the door calling for Jeremy to let him in. The lock clicked and Suzy heard another voice inside as the guard disappeared inside. All this time the misshaped figure she kept looking at remained static. Suzy felt like her head was about to explode. She heard, no, felt the buzzing everywhere, inside and out, like you do when you’re about to faint. But she wasn’t losing her consciousness, the buzzing just kept getting more and more intense with every passing moment, until she noticed in the corner of her vision that wasn’t consumed with this  _ thing _ in the window, the door getting opened. She saw the guard, and the buzzing stopped at once.

He looked the same as before, she noticed. Whatever just happened – happened to her alone. He was holding a piece of paper and a pen in his hand.

“I will need you to sign this,” he said, handing her the document. “It’s basically an agreement that you’re aware of the possible consequences of being here, and if anything, you won’t sue us. I don’t want to write a report that could get us both in trouble, so I feel like that’s a compromise.”

Suzy took the paper silently and looked at it for a moment – it was too dark to see anything, and even with what little light there was the words were illegible, as if someone just smashed the keys.

_ Whatever _ , Suzy thought. She raised her knee and signed as neatly as she could over the little black line at the bottom of the page.  _ It’s not like anything matters anyways. _

“Thank you,” the guard said, taking the paper back, and giving her another, with his and his supervisors names and numbers, “You’re free to leave now.”

“Alright,” she said. 

The guard looked at her, silent, with a somewhat crooked smile on his face.

“Where should I go? Where is the exit?” Suzy asked, unsurely. With each passing second she felt more and more uneasy.

The guard pointed to his right, still staring right at Suzy, in the direction of the large gates with a single light above it. He then sharply turned around and went back to the booth. Suzy watched him disappearing inside, then looked in the direction he pointed. The gate seemed endlessly high – its edge disappearing into the emptiness of the night sky.

Timidly she came closer, and with each step its presence grew more and more intimidating. She was now a hand-reach away from the door, but still she couldn’t see any city lights in the distance between its bars.

She hesitantly touched the door handle and flinched by its coldness. It felt like ice, and for a moment Suzy was sure she got an instant frostbite. She turned her palm and looked at her fingers. No redness, no paleness, nothing out of place, except there  _ was _ something wrong, and Suzy couldn’t figure out what. She stared at her hand a little longer, and the more she looked the deeper that feeling of uneasiness spread its roots inside Suzy’s whole being until nothing made sense anymore. 

As if something pulled the switch, in an instance Suzy’s mind went blank. 

She didn’t feel scared anymore, nor did she feel in any way courageous. There was nothing. Suzy’s inner monologue, her point of view, her whole sense of reality drowned and dissolved in the surrounding darkness. 

In a mechanical motion she reached for the handle and pulled the door open. It still burned but she didn’t care.

Behind the door all she was greeted with was more of nothing. No street lights in sight, no roads, no trees, no buildings, just the suffocating abyss. 

Suzy made her first step, almost involuntarily, like a string puppet, controlled by something outside its field of understanding, and then made another, and another, until she hit a wall. Still in total darkness she pressed her hand against it, trying to find a passage, a door, a switch, anything to make sense of her surroundings. She felt the texture that reminded her of wallpaper, with small uneven vertical lines, just like the ones they had in the office, in the backroom.

She pressed another hand against the obstacle and slowly, as if she was in a tight pathway, Suzy walked sideways, one cautious step at a time. The air felt heavy, almost solid, and Suzy grew more and more worried. It was refreshing to feel emotions again, though. The fear made everything seem more real and brought with it determination to find the way out. If there was one, that is. Suzy was a hopeful person, so she believed there were no situations she couldn’t get out of.

Hope and worry made an interesting cocktail that fueled her every reaction. Suzy switched from careful and slow to frantic in seconds. There wasn’t any logic in her decisions because there wasn’t any logic in the situation she found herself stuck in. Emotions that almost regressed into instincts, and a bit of luck, were her guiding lights. 

“Suz, is that you?” she heard a faint voice, as if from behind a glass, calling her in a completely casual manner. “What are you doing here with the light off?” 

Then there was light. Painfully bright, so much so that Suzy covered her face with her hands, as if trying to protect it from fire.

“Suz, I thought I’ve left already. Did you forget something?” the voice asked again. Suzy could practically hear their smile, and it didn’t seem as friendly anymore. She forced her eyes open and through pain and tears she made out the face behind that voice. It was one of her coworkers whose name she still couldn’t hold in her memory for longer than a couple of seconds. “Suz?” they asked once more.

“Yeah, I’m going home already,” she said, sounding as if she’s in a hurry, “excuse me.” She squeezed past her coworker who in a way was her rescuer and swiftly walked towards the elevator.

Her coworker turned their head, and Suzy felt shivers down her spine, knowing they’re still looking at her with that smile.

She pressed the button, and miraculously the elevator had just arrived. She got in and pressed the button for the first floor, only then realizing there was another person there, leaning on the wall with a big white box in their hands, and wearing some sort of a lab coat.

“Good evening,” they said, with an unbearably sweet smile, “you must be Suzy?” 


End file.
